Video Games for Social Change

Looking for that perfect gift that will make the children in
your life beam and declare, “I want to be a humanitarian when I grow up?”

Yeah, neither was I, but Julia Moulden has convinced me that maybe I should start. She has an interesting article in the Huffington Post about the advent
of video games that advocate social change, such as U.N. Food Force — in which
kids are challenged to ration out food to needy populations, plant food crops, and ride in helicopters.

This is only one of many examples of video games that
Suzanne Seggerman promotes through her organization Games for Change. Seggerman founded the organization after the birth of her first child, when she
decided to take time off from work and rethink her career choices. Newly unemployed, she decided to try out a videogame someone
had given her called Hidden Agenda, which deals with Central American politics.
Seggerman quickly found herself hooked on the potential of video games to
transform young people’s thinking about their contributions to society.

Seggerman’s top videogame picks–such as Peace Dove, which aims to rid the world of nukes and GumBeat, in
which a sassy teenage girl stands up to an oppressive regime–are listed here.

Photo: Games for Change